Posted by Kitchen Design

Halogen Cooktops

Halogen cooktops look exactly like their ceramic glass cousins except that underneath the glass lies a halogen quartz tube element. Thats right, its a light bulb! But how can light cook my meals? Lets find out.

Halogen bulbs contain a tungsten filament and halogen gas. When electricity passes through the tungsten filament it heats up (very quickly) and the halogen gas combines with the tungsten boiling off from the filament to form tungsten halide. The heat breaks down the tungsten halide and the tungsten redeposits itself back on the filament (thus giving the element a much longer life). The energy given off by the lamp is predominantly infra red so it will quite easily pass through the ceramic glass cooktop into the cooking utensil. It also gives of light (a red glow) so it can easily be seen through the glass therefore it is easy to see what part of the cooktop is hot.

Halogen cooktops are very fast to heat up (faster than other glass cooktops) except magnetic induction cooktops.

Tags: ceramic glass, Cooktops, glass cooktops